by Brenna Lyons
Maybe wolves don't have those problems. They say I'm a wolf.
As if in answer, Samara saw the change happening. Her eyes went from brown to golden, her irises spreading until they covered most of the visible whites of her eyes. Her vision sharpened. The tufted tips of pointed, furry ears rose at the sides of her head, one catching on a lock of hair.
Her teeth felt…wrong. Samara ran her tongue along them, groaning at the sharpened tips.
It took her a moment to realize they'd both stopped trying to arouse her.
"So beautiful," Jason murmured.
Samara looked at her hands. Dark gray claws stood out in the place of her fingernails, and brown fur surrounded the bases of them.
She wasn't sure she agreed with the assessment of "beautiful". It was…different, but she wasn't sure she would call it beautiful.
James plucked the hair off of her ear and let it fall. "You're always beautiful. Sexy. Fierce. Gorgeous."
Her tongue caught on the tip of a fang. Hot, salty blood made her mouth water, and she swallowed. Her senses rioted.
I've wanted to bite nearly every time we've had sex. "Wolves mate for life." Eva said Alpha females usually had two males, but were they both mates? Or was one a mate and the other a concubine or something similar?
They stared at her for a long moment.
James found his voice first. "Is that what you want, Samara? Do you want to become our mate?"
They would both be my mates.
Jason took over. "If you do—"
"Is that why I want to bite you?" Her cheeks flamed at the admission.
The male musk mixed into the steam increased, and her body responded to it, sex fluids running lazily down her perineum.
"Trust me, we want to as well." Jason's upper lip undulated, as his fangs descended.
Her heart skipped in excitement. She sobered just as quickly.
"What is it?"
Jason. Always the more sensitive of the two. Spitting it out was hard. Would they still want her when they knew?
"Samara?"
James. The leader. He takes control when something is wrong. Usually. Jason did at the stadium.
She forced her mind back to the present. "What if I can't…?"
He nodded, urging her on.
Be clinical. Maybe it will hurt less. "Reproduce."
The brothers shot each other a sidelong look. Jason broached the subject first.
"Because you're half-human?"
"Because I don't cycle like—"
"Like a human does." James nodded his agreement. "We know."
Jason smiled widely. "You're all wolf, in that respect."
"I…I am?"
James raked a look down her body that said he wanted to lick her from head to toe. "You thought you couldn't." He stated it as a fact.
He's not wrong. "The doctors—human doctors said it was highly unlikely. Not without major medical intervention, most likely." In my defense, I thought I was human.
He didn't let it drop. "And if the odds had worked out that way? If you would have gotten pregnant?"
"Well…" Samara cleared her throat. Why had she dismissed the possibility so quickly and completely? "The timing wouldn't have been ideal, but I would have figured it out."
Jason trailed his fingers between her thighs, playing the tips inside her. "You mean we would have. Together."
"You're not saying you want to. A-are you?" She held her breath, waiting for a reply. It wasn't smart to hope for a positive response.
The fact that they never asked if I was on any sort of birth control and never used condoms says something. Doesn't it?
Jason stroked his fingers deeper inside her, and she let out her breath in a rush.
"Give us a chance. You have no idea the devotion of a wolf male to his mate and his offspring."
James trailed a hand up the opposite thigh and joined Jason in finger fucking her. "Let us." He said it softly, an invitation.
"What are you offering?"
Jason leaned down and pressed a kiss to her mound, heating her blood. "Everything you're willing to give us. Just ask, and we are yours."
"What do I have to do?"
James flicked his tongue around one turgid nipple. "Do what your instincts have been telling you to do…if you want to."
Sink the fangs I grow into them. "Then I want you inside me. If my instincts are calling me to bite, I want to bite and allow you to bite."
James growled low in his throat. "We mate for life. You with the two of us."
Thank goodness. Her heart hammered in her chest. "Now."
"The bed. This is best done in a bed." Jason swept her up in his arms and started walking.
Samara pulled him down into a kiss, her body in the same fever it had been for the last two days.
In moments, the three of them were kneeling on the bed together, trading kisses, hands stroking bodies. Samara encircled one cock in her hand, bringing it up. It didn't matter which one it was; she needed one inside her.
Now. Now. "Now."
James settled her astride his lap and thrust inside her. Samara levered herself up and down his shaft and he met her. It was animalistic, nearly violent, but it was exactly what she needed.
The fangs sprouted. Her mouth watered, and the salty scent of blood enticed her.
"That's right." Jason urged her on.
He ran a fingertip over her lips, then stroked one fang. With a yank, he sliced his fingertip open and pulled it away, letting a drop of blood land on her tongue.
Her senses went wild.
"Taste." Jason sealed his lips over hers and parted them.
The blood on his lips ramped up the thirst for more. Samara kissed him, sucked at his lips and tongue, wrapped her oddly-shaped hands around his head.
Jason pulled away. "Finish with James. Now. I can't wait much longer for you."
Samara focused on James's neck, the pulse of blood under his skin visible to her sharpened vision. The temptation was too much and she bit down. Her jaw felt unnaturally large, but she ignored that and riveted her attention on the hot flow of James's essence coursing down her throat.
Climax exploded, sending warmth and pleasure from the center of her body out. She arched back, releasing him, rivulets of blood dripping down her chest as she gasped for air.
James guided her face back to his shoulder and sank his fangs into her neck in return. She screamed, half in pleasure and half in pain, raking her claws down his back, while his cum filled her with heat. Her climax waned, and her resistance with it. Samara sank into his arms, moaning as he licked at the bite.
"My turn." Jason's voice was all it took to bring her body to life again.
They switched her from lap to lap, and James's subsiding cock was replaced with Jason's rock-hard length. Her fangs itched to bite immediately. As if he could read the need in her body language, Jason drew her mouth to his neck, baring the unmarked side of her own for him.
She didn't question his intent. The lure was maddening. Samara bit down, savoring his flavor, not as wild as James's but rich and creamy as the finest carob replacements she was gifted after Christiana stabbed her.
Climax raced through her again, and she gasped in surprise. Jason bit down, groaning as he emptied into her in a series of spurts that massaged her inner muscles.
Consciousness was abruptly a rare commodity. Mouths meshed and parted in steamy kisses. One of the brothers covered her body with his own, thrusting hard inside her. Samara pulled at the tight muscles of his ass, dragging him deeper inside.
A slightly-roughened tongue bathed her chest and throat.
Cleaning off the blood that was spilled during the mating bites. She sought out the same on the chest before her and moaned at the flavor. Jason. Her inner muscles fluttered at the knowledge of which brother was inside her. Until that moment, she hadn't realized how exciting it was not to know.
They came hard and fast, and Jason moved aside. James didn't take his place. Instead, he spread her
thighs and laid a long lick up her sex, bringing Samara up in an arch.
One fang nipping at her nether lips dragged a scream of pleasure from her. James suckled and licked, his breathing going ragged.
Cum splashed against her core, then his cock was inside, delivering the rest of the load.
"Give me room," Jason demanded.
Samara wrapped her legs around James's hips. Both brothers stopped and stared at her.
"Both of you. Now."
Dual growls of pleasure answered her.
Chapter Nine
Two days later
Samara descended the stairs between her two mates. A shiver of delight worked up her spine at the truth. After they graduated, she would be sharing a home with them. In the meantime, they were already working on the first of their babies.
Pups, though they are born babies and not as pups.
Moreover, none of them were capable of cheating on the others. I know more than a few human women who wouldn't mind this life.
If she lived to be a hundred and five, Samara was sure she would never understand how her mother could turn down a devoted wolf mate.
I've said it before and I will say it again. We are polar opposites.
"What is going on in your mind?" Jason teased.
"This is a big day." It was, and not just because it was the first day she'd been allowed to leave her bed.
"You don't need to worry about our parents." James repeated it, the third time he'd done so since they announced the couple were coming to meet her the night before. "They are going to adore you."
"Yes, but they are going to ask the sixty-four thousand dollar question. Aren't they?"
"The what?" Their voices overlapped.
She sighed and raked a hand through her hair. "The sixty-four thousand dollar question is the jackpot question in a quiz show. It's the tough one, the one that always trips people up."
They stared at her in seeming confusion.
Jason's face brightened in understanding. "You mean the question of who your father is."
"Bingo."
That reference didn't throw them.
James stopped and took her hands. "Would it put you more at ease to meet your father before meeting our parents?"
Samara staged an inner debate on that. "It wouldn't be right to call off your parents now. They've been waiting more than a day for this."
"You won't have to. I'm sure you could meet your father today, before we meet our parents for dinner. If you want to."
The niggling of unease returned. "You've said that before. Is there some reason I shouldn't want to meet him?"
"No! Of course not."
Jason wrapped an arm around her waist, then planted a kiss on top of her head. "If your heart has room for him, he is there for you. His greatest fear is that your love for the father who raised you will preclude you loving the father who gave you life."
James raised one of her hands and kissed the knuckles. "The question is…are you ready to hear him out calmly and attempt to accept him into your life?"
"What would I have to hear him out about? My mother already admitted she cheated on my dad with him."
James looked over her shoulder, probably at Jason. He shrugged, then released her hand. "Okay. Let's go in to breakfast."
While they walked, James pulled out a cell phone. He texted someone. The answer came a few moments later. He read it, sent another text, then put it back in his pocket. "We're meeting him for lunch."
Samara's stomach squirmed in apprehension. Maybe he should have waited until after I ate to tell me that.
Jason sighed. "Yogurt and a muffin?"
She laughed heartily. "How did you know?"
Each brother wrapped an arm around her waist.
"We know you so well." James teased.
"In other words, Jason notices everything, and you make sure I'm never left wanting."
Jason barked in laughter. "It is an equitable division of labor."
"I suppose it is."
Halfway to the table, Samara startled at the sound of a high-pitched squeal.
Eva sprinted for them, enfolding Samara in a hug and dragging her away from her mates. She tugged at both sides of Samara's collar, uncovering the mostly-healed mating marks on her neck. "You did it. You finally did it."
"Finally, she says. We've only known each other for a little over a week, Eva."
She turned on her heel with a flip of her hair. "I'll show you how it's done."
"How…? What?"
Eva didn't answer. She marched across the room to a group of male students, then tapped one on the arm. "Excuse me." The sing-song voice and the bounce in her step made Eva appear even younger than usual.
He turned toward her, and Eva went up on her toes, grasped his head in both hands, and laid a full-out carnal kiss on him. He pulled her toward him with a growl.
At last, he straightened and left the kiss. Eva let her hands slide to his shoulders.
"Are you inviting my attentions, little wolf?" The question sounded like a challenge.
Samara bristled. "He doesn't even know her name."
Jason gathered her to his chest, stopping her march over there to leave scars. "I assure you, he does."
Eva trailed a fingertip down along one broad shoulder. "Mmmm. Yes, I am."
The male's teeth and eyes shifted. "I warn you, I am fond of the ancient rites."
Eva nodded, but Samara noticed her knees shook just a bit.
Don't rush in. Think. "What does that mean?" she demanded of her mates.
James whispered the answer to her. "It means he is intent on making Eva his mate. Brand is going to take her to a bed and seduce her until she agrees to let him lay his mark. Dissuading him, now that she has invited him, will be very difficult."
Samara swallowed the lump growing in her throat. Eva wasn't a high Alpha. Could she fight off a male as large as Brand, if it came to that?
"Eva will be fine," Jason promised.
She looked up in time to see the male lifting Eva off her feet in a show of strength.
"Brand!" There was a cut of order in James's voice.
He looked their way, as did Eva. She went wide-eyed, pleading for something Samara couldn't name.
"Take care with our little sister, Brand."
Jason tensed a notch. "Our mate would be very displeased if her den sister were injured, and what upsets our mate upsets us."
Eva blushed, but she smiled widely.
Brand tipped his head their way. "Rest assured, Alpha Samara. There is no wolf Eva is safer with than me."
"Thank you," she replied.
Brand didn't wait for more discussion. He carried Eva from the dining hall and turned toward the far staircase.
His rooms. He's taking her there instead of to our shared floor.
James and Jason will kill him if he hurts her. That simply, her stomach settled.
* * * *
Samara had seen the residence at the edge of campus before, but she'd assumed it was Pietro Galvani's home. Since they'd passed by the Alpha Maestro in the commons, it was a fair bet they weren't going to meet him.
James rang the bell and a silver-haired man answered it.
"Lord James. Lord Jason." He tipped his head. "You are expected, and—" He looked in Samara's direction, and his olive skin went a waxy, gray-beige. "I did not know…" He straightened and backed away quickly. "My apologies for keeping you waiting. Please, come inside."
"Thank you, Roberto," James replied, ignoring the servant's fumbling and shock.
Her mates guided Samara inside.
With another unreadable look at Samara, Roberto turned away.
"Am I not welcome here?" Her stomach churned and tears stung at her eyes.
Roberto whirled around, seemingly horrified. "Anytime you wish, Alpha Samara. I am honored to serve you. I simply did not realize you would be accompanying your mates today. I would have liked to have been able to prepare for your arrival. I fear you will find my attent
ion to detail lax."
His response stunned her. "I'm sure I won't, Roberto."
The servant smiled widely at her trust in him. He led them up one level, then down a long hallway. At the last door on the left, he waved them inside.
"Can I provide you with any refreshments while the meal is prepared for you?"
"No, thank you," Samara replied. Her stomach was still complaining, and she wasn't sure how she was going to eat lunch, let alone anything else.
"A coffee tray," James requested.
Roberto smiled widely and tipped his head. He was gone in the blink of an eye.
As if she'd questioned them, Jason offered an explanation. "Roberto has dreamed of the day you would come here. If there was nothing he could do for you, he would be disappointed."
"I see." She didn't understand it fully, but it was a small thing to ask to make an old man happy.
He was back in what seemed like moments, while Samara was still wandering around the library, admiring the leather-bound books, the paintings, and statuary. Roberto appeared at her side a moment later, offering a small cup of the coffee. Samara stared at him for a moment, confused.
He lost his composure a bit, and his face darkened. "Kona with two creams, no sugar? This is your preferred, is it not?"
"Yes. Thank you." Samara took it from his hands, trying to make sense of it. "Marietta told you?"
He smiled. "She…confirmed it, but we knew long before that."
"How?" Her senses went on high alert at that. Was someone spying on her?
James stepped in. "Your father will explain."
Samara nodded her agreement. It wasn't fair to put pressure on a servant, since they were bound to the orders they were given. She'd decided that about Marietta when she learned the servant couldn't tell her who her father was.
Roberto hovered. It took a few heartbeats for Samara to put together the reason for his hesitation. She sipped the coffee, then smiled.
"Perfect. Thank you, Roberto."
He tipped his head and hurried away.
I think I just made his day.
Jason watched him go. "That was nicely handled."
"I'm learning," she admitted.
Still, her father's lack of an appearance bothered her. Didn't he want to meet her?